I Must Belong Somewhere
by Ignite the Airwaves
Summary: Oneshot Songfic. Raven wants to go where she thinks that she REALLY belongs. Robin wants to stop her. T for blood and character death.


**AN- this is a little songfic oneshot to entertain while I'm away at camp. The song is I Must Belong Somewhere by Bright Eyes. It's sadder than I intended, but oh well. **

**Magical Disclaimer that I always forget- I never owned Teen Titans, and I never will. If I owned Bright Eyes, then I would love Conor Oberst even more than I already do. But sadly, he is not mine.  
**

_Leave the bright blue door on the white-washed wall  
Leave the death ledger under city hall  
Leave the joyful air in that rubber ball today  
_

Raven slipped the worn leather-bound book under her arm, and slowly rose to her feet, exiting her dismal bedroom into a corridor of Titans Tower. She was proud of how she moved with silence, and snuck out the front door instead of teleporting. The challenge was almost exciting. The rest of the team was sitting on the couch, and not one turned to see her over Beast Boy's raucous yelling and Starfire's attempts to bring peace.

_  
Just leave the lilac print on the linen sheet  
Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet  
Let the sideways rain in the crooked street remain_

She thought that it was funny, how they all seemed to belong right there on that very couch, bickering like a…family. Raven phased through the door as to not make any noise, eyes on her feet. And from there she teleported into the town, though a little bit more downtown than she had wanted. She kept her eyes to herself as gang members glared at her, still too intimidated to step close to the Titan. _I need to go there…it's where I belong._

_Leave the whimpering dog in his cold kennel  
Leave the dead starlet on her pedestal  
Leave the acid kids in their green fishbowls today_

Raven had to admit that in a sick kind of way, she enjoyed the stares and glares, no matter how hateful. They were noticing her, and not doing anything about it. Perhaps they thought she was on a mission, and backup was only a street over. She made it all the way to the downtown park, known for its illegal drug sales. She sat on a hard wooden bench and began to read. As sad as it was, she felt more at home here than in the Tower. 

_Leave the sad guitar in its hard-shell case  
Leave the worried look on your lover's face  
Let the orange embers in the fireplace remain  
_

Raven immediately discarded the thought. This was not her home. Here, the people hated her not for who she was, but for what she did. The thought somehow saddened her. Across the street, she saw a discreet heroin exchange and an old man hopelessly playing guitar, his case open and empty on the ground. The instrument made not a sound.

_  
Cause everything it must belong somewhere  
A train off in the distance, bicycle chained to the stairs  
Everything it must belong somewhere  
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here_

Did she really want to go back to the bright of Jump City? This underbelly of the city was sly, silent, cunning. It relaxed her in ways that the 'mall of shopping' never could. _Robin would kill me if I stayed here_. Raven could see a brown leather jacket with a tell-tale bulge inside the pocket. The man was headed towards her. She closed her eyes. 

_Leave the ocean's roar in the turquoise shell  
Leave the widower in his private hell  
Leave the liberty in that broken bell today_

Raven rubbed the worn leather book in her hands, committing the sensation to memory, calmly awaiting the incident that would end her need to make choices, eyes still closed. A shot. A kick. A battle cry. Raven felt pain blossom in her shoulder. She smiled. 

_Just leave the epic poem on its yellowed page  
Leave the gray macaw in his covered cage  
Let the traveling band on the interstate remain_

"Raven! Come on, open your eyes!"

She knew that voice, and opened her eyes to verify. It was Robin. It appeared that he had taken down the shooter so that the aim had ended up on the top edge of her collarbone. The pain didn't hurt.

"Raven! You need medical attention!"

"No, Robin," she shook her head, "No." 

_Cause everything it must belong somewhere  
Sound-stage in California, televisions in Times Square  
Everything it must belong somewhere  
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here  
Well I know that now that's why I'm staying here_

"What, are you crazy?!" he yelled, "You're hurt. You were almost killed. What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Robin, I'm not leaving." Her voice was quiet and monotone.

"What are you talking about?!" He gripped her wrist and tugged on it.

"I need to stay where I belong." 

_Leave the secret talks on the trundle bed  
Leave the garden tools in the rusted shed  
Leave those bad ideas in your troubled head today_

"No, you belong in the Tower!" he exclaimed, "You're losing blood. Come with me." Indeed the red was blossoming on her shirt.

"No!" she screeched, "I'm happy here."

"Raven, you just got shot. How can you be fucking happy?" His face was growing red. 

_Just leave the restless ghost in his old hotel_  
_Leave the homeless man out in that cardboard cell  
Let the painted horse on the carousel remain_

"Because I'm away from the Titans!" she screamed, noticing that the streets had vacated in the Wonder Boy's appearance. The gunman still lie on the ground. Raven only knew that he was not dead because his hand was twitching ever so slightly.

Robin's mouth formed an O and he stepped back, releasing her wrist that had now gone red. 

_Cause everything it must belong somewhere  
Just like the gold around her finger or the silver in his hair  
Yeah, everything it must belong somewhere  
I know that now, that's why I'm staying here  
Oh, I know that now, that's why I'm staying here_

Robin's shock-relaxed face now turned into an angry sneer, and he grabbed Raven's wrist again, even more forceful than before. She knew that she was losing the battle. Her healing powers would not close her wound around the bullet. She was still losing blood. It looked so dark against her leotard that it almost seemed black.

"You are coming back to us- to me," he tugged so hard on her alabaster skin that she cried out in pain. The body on the ground twitched. 

_In truth, the forest hears each sound  
Each blade of grass as it lies down  
The world requires no audience_

_no witnesses, no witnesses_

"No, ROBIN. LEAVE ME ALONE!" The park fountain exploded in her sudden swell of emotion. She couldn't go back, didn't want to go back…Not even to him. Her mind felt fuzzy, as if that bullet had contained some kind of magic powder.

The body rose. BANG. She felt red, she saw red. Raven's chest was now bloody, and heaved with uneven breaths. Her fists were clenched and her face was scrunched in the terrible pain. 

_Leave the old town drunk on his wooden stool  
Leave the autumn leaves in their swimming pool  
Leave the poor young child in his crumbling school today  
_

"RAVEN!" His voice sounded distant to the pounding in her eardrums. "Oh my God, Raven. Raven…" She felt his gentle touch and shivered. She had not meant to Robin that she belonged here, in this park. And she knew that the master detective may have just figured out her true words.

_  
Leave the novelist in his daydream tomb  
Leave the scientist in her rubix cube  
Let the true genius in the padded room remain_

"Don't leave me…please." She felt her hair being pushed back behind an ear but was unable to open her eyes. Raven felt sticky, sticky and dark and free. She felt his movements become more urgent as he literally dug his fingers into the chest wound, extracting a silver bullet. He cared not for his blood-blackened hands; all he cared about was keeping his friend alive.

_Leave the horse's hair on the slanted bow  
Leave the slot machines on the riverboat  
Leave the cauliflower in the casserole today_

"Here, heal yourself," he frantically pulled her hand up to her chest, and she powerlessly allowed it to flop back down into place. The surrounding area was empty and silent, and the masked gunman had disappeared.

"Robin..," she croaked, "It won't work." Her lavender eyes were full of regret, though there was an eerie acceptance in them that frightened Robin to no end. "I have to go now."

And then the master detective understood. He fell to his knees and cried out in anguish, Raven still sitting with that dead expression on the park bench. He looked up at her slowly. "Please stay. I love you." There was no answer.

_Just leave the hot, bright trash in the shopping malls  
Leave the hawks of war in their capitals  
Let the organ's moan in the cathedral remain_

"…Raven. You don't belong in Hell." He was crying now, watching his friend's body tremble with her efforts to say a final sentence. 

_Cause everything it must belong somewhere  
__**They locked the devil in the basement, threw God up into the air.**__  
Yeah, everything must belong somewhere  
You know it's true, I wish you'd leave me here  
You know it's true, why don't you leave me here?_

"Robin, everything belongs somewhere."


End file.
